Shortly before Easter in 2008, Antoine Maalouf arrived at the offices of the Greek Tourism Minister with an unusual request: He wanted to buy a Greek island. The 63-year-old general director of the Monaco-based investment company MMC Group slid €15 billion, in the form of guarantees issued by some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. and Europe, across the mahogany conference table, right under the minister's nose.
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